BSP may contest all Delhi seats
Two major opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh — Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party — have decided to chart different paths for the Delhi assembly elections.
The BSP is likely to contest all the 70 assembly seats while the SP has decided to skip the Delhi polls.
SP said it had decided so skip the Delhi assembly polls to prevent division of secular votes.
Both BSP and SP had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance but the pre-poll tie-up failed to deliver as expected by both the parties.
Even after a dismal performance in states like Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, BSP sources said on Wednesday the party was preparing to contest all the 70 seats in Delhi with its focus on 12 reserved seats.
Delhi has been important for the BSP, especially due to significant number of Dalit and migrant voters being present in the national capital. The BSP had bagged two seats in the 2008 Delhi assembly elections but had drawn a blank in 2015 despite contesting on all 70 seats.
“A high-level meeting, chaired by BSP chief Mayawati, was held recently in which directions were given to the party leaders from western Uttar Pradesh to start preparations for the Delhi assembly polls. It was mainly the ruling AAP which had dented the BSP’s Dalit votes in the elections.
However, the sources said the actual challenge before the BSP was to counter the growing clout of Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Ravana. He recently hogged headlines by leading the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act from Jama Masjid in Delhi and his subsequent arrest. Smelling the rat in the protest, Mayawati has termed it as a conspiracy to foist Bhim Army to counter the BSP.
Bhim Army wields considerable influence in Meerut and Saharanpur divisions of western UP, which shares boundary with Delhi.
BSP chief and former chief minister of UP, Mayawati, had recently cautioned her voters against Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad and had termed him as an agent of parties working to split the BSP votes in Delhi. Mayawati’s attack on Azad came after he announced to contest all the 70 assembly seats in Delhi.
Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, has distanced itself from the Delhi assembly polls as its leaders are of the view that it might split the anti-BJP votes. The move is also seen as an attempt to extend support to the ruling AAP. However, a formal announcement from the party chief is awaited.
